R.I.P., Madeleine L'Engle

Madeleine L'Engle, author of A Wrinkle in Time and the rest of the Time Quartet, has died. She was 88. (Hat tip: InstaPundit.)

I read the books in middle school, but to be honest, I don't recall much about them -- though I do remember liking them. And I remember how one of them was centered around "mitochondria and farandolae." When I subsequently learned that there actually are such things as mitochondria, I was fascinated... and disappointed that farandolae are fictional. :)

Comments

[texasyank]

What I remember is how Snoopy lifted the first sentence from "Wrinkle" for his own novel, the one he typed atop his doghouse.

Anyone remember?

"It was a dark and stormy night."

[Patrick]

Her books were so awesome when I was a kid. Such a shame. BTW, she was a devout Catholic, much like Tolkien, which inspired many of the themes in her stories.

Bulwer-Lytton beat both of those worthies to the punch by well over a century, for they are but two of his many mockers.

My favorite L'Engle quote: "As Meg discovers herself, she also discovers the world of particle physics!"--from the extras of the TV-movie DVD. Self-discovery and particle physics: two great tastes that taste great together. You can't make this stuff up.

[Mike]

I remember being extremely disappointed when I found out that the science fiction book referred to in one of her stories didn't actually exist either. I loved those books as a kid. I reread them a few years ago, though, and really--they are much more fundamentally children's novels than I had realized. I probably would not have enjoyed them if I picked them up today, if the nostalgia factor weren't there.

[Kim]

I actually met her at a book signing in Old Saybrook when I was in high school. LOVED all the books, but was dissappointed in the movie version Disney made of "The Arm of the Starfish".... Her characters are some of my favorites.